1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an ergonomically-advantaged tool for cleaning griddle cooking surfaces, particularly where frequent and regular build-up of debris is encountered, minimizing repetitive motion injuries which frequently result from high frequency, extended duration use of the cleaning tools of the prior art.
According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) of the US Department of Labor, substantial sound scientific evidence links musculoskeletal disorders to work. The scientific literature demonstrates that workers who face high biomechanical stress--such as heavy lifting and repetitive motion--have high rates of work-related musculoskeletal disorder (WMSDs) such as back injuries, tendinitis and carpal tunnel syndrome. Most people face their main exposures to physical stress on their jobs. The National Academy of Sciences has found "compelling evidence" that reducing biomechanical stress on the job reduces the risk of injuries. Literature reviews and studies provide extensive scientific verification that musculoskeletal disorders are linked to work, and that workplace interventions can reduce the risk of injury of workers.
Fast-food preparation utilizing griddles requires frequent and regular removal of cooking residue to keep the cooking surface clear. Traditionally, a putty knife style scraping tool is repetitively moved across the cooking surface as often as 50 times per hour, depending upon the quantity of items in preparation. Over a period of time, this can become a contributing factor to repetitive motion injuries, sometimes requiring surgery and/or rehabilitation therapy.
The physical stress experienced by the scraper operator is attributable to friction and is directly related to the amount of force required to be applied by the operator to maintain the leading edge of the scraper tool in touching relationship to the griddle as the scraper is urged forward to overcome static friction, and thereafter encountering sliding friction, glide the tool along the cooking surface to the end of its forward travel, pushing aside cooking residue in its path as it travels.
Friction is the universal force between surfaces that opposes sliding motion. When surfaces of two bodies are in contact, the interactive force at the surface may have components both perpendicular and tangent to the surface. The perpendicular component is called the normal force, and the tangential component is called the friction force. If there is relative sliding at the surface, the friction force always acts in the opposite direction of this motion.
Most dry surfaces behave approximately according to Coulomb's friction law, which states that, approximately and within limits, (1) the friction between two surfaces is slightly greater just before motion begins than when the surfaces are in steady relative motion, that is, the force required to overcome static friction is usually greater than the force needed to sustain uniform sliding motion; and (2) when the surfaces slide relative to one another, the friction force is proportional to the normal force and is independent of both the contact area and the speed of sliding. The ratio of the tangential force to the normal force during sliding is called the coefficient of friction and depends on the nature of the two surfaces. In order to initiate sliding against friction, it is necessary to apply a tangential force at least as great as the product of the coefficient of friction and the normal force. Before the onset of motion, the force is resisted by the equal and opposite force of static friction.
It is a requirement for efficient scraping that prior art griddle scrapers be held at an angle to the surface to be scraped, with the scraping edge in contact therewith, and simultaneously be urged in a direction parallel to the surface. The design of most prior art scrapers requires the simultaneous application of the required forces, a significant factor contributing to repetitive motion injuries. Past efforts to address this problem have resulted in griddle scrapers which were too large, heavy, clumsy and difficult to use in a space-restricted work station.